UW's Seattle, Bothell, and Tacoma campuses

The University of Washington's original campus is in Seattle. The Bothell and Tacoma campuses were established in 1990 to provide undergraduate and master's level programs to the North Puget Sound and South Puget Sound areas.

Until autumn 2006, the Bothell and Tacoma campuses enrolled only students who had at least junior standing. Beginning in the autumn 2006 quarter, both UW-Bothell and UW-Tacoma began enrolling freshman, as well. The courses and degrees offered are largely different from those available at the Seattle campus.

Admission to UW campuses

Each of the three campuses handles its own admissions. Students applying to the Bothell and Tacoma campuses often apply for admission to a particular major at the same time. Some majors have competitive admission and prerequisite courses in addition to the requirements listed above.

Cross-campus enrollment

Freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, and postbaccalaureate students enrolled at one UW campus may register using MyUW for courses at another UW campus beginning in Period 2. In summer quarter, cross-campus enrollment is allowed in Period 1 as well.

Eligibility

Freshmen: Once admitted, freshmen must complete 25 credit hours on their home campus before enrolling in courses on other UW campuses. (UW Extension courses are not considered home campus courses.)

Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors, and Postbaccalaureate Students: All students with a class standing from sophomore to postbaccalaureate must complete 15 credits on their home campus before cross-enrolling.

Non-matriculated Students: Nonmatriculated students are not allowed to enroll cross-campus except in the summer. This includes nonmatriculated students taking courses under the staff or Washington State tuition exemption (more information below).

Graduate Students and Graduate Non-Matriculated Students (GNM): There are no restrictions on graduate students registering in courses cross-campus.

Credit limits

A maximum of 15 credits per academic year (autumn quarter through summer quarter) may be taken on a campus other than the home campus.

A maximum of 45 credits earned through cross-enrollment may count toward a bachelor's degree. This restriction is not monitored by web registration, so there is no restriction to the number of credits a student may complete by cross-enrollment, only to the number that may count toward a degree. If there are excess cross-enrollment credits, the department adviser should note this on the application for graduation. DARS is not programmed to know at which campus courses are completed, so a DARS audit will not point out excess cross-enrollment credits.

Note that this 45-credit limit applies only to credits taken at one UW campus while enrolled at another. A student who attends one UW campus and then is admitted to another UW campus may count toward a bachelor's degree any number of credits transferred from the first UW campus to the second (see below).

Credits completed at all UW campuses are posted on the student's transcript as UW credit. Which campus offered the course can be determined by the department abbreviation; each campus has its own set of abbreviations, and none are shared. The campus at which the student was enrolled in a given quarter can be determined by the student's major code that quarter; again, each campus has its own set of abbreviations.

Summer Quarter

All students (including non-matriculated) may cross-enroll during the summer quarter, and they may register during Period 1. Freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, and postbaccalaureate students must complete the required number of home-campus credits first.

Petitions

Individual petitions for waivers of the credit requirements may be considered by the home campus (i.e., the degree-granting unit) registrar. However, the approval of such a waiver does not obligate the campus unit listing the desired course(s) to grant special consideration for course admission.

Prerequisites and Registration Restrictions

All registration restrictions (e.g., class standing, entry codes) still apply. Since similar courses have different prefixes and numbers at different campuses, prerequisites taken at the home campus might not be recognized by MyUW when you try to register cross campus. In that case, please contact the department offering the course.

Administrative details

The home campus is responsible for administrative and disciplinary issues.
Hardship withdrawal petitions for all courses will be reviewed by the student's home campus.

Student activity fees are credited to the student's home campus. Students are eligible for student activity fee-supported services only at their home campus.
Students cross-enrolling at Seattle are eligible to purchase a U-PASS.

Only Seattle-campus students are eligible to participate in intercollegiate athletics.

Cross-campus majors and minors

Cross-campus double majoring is not allowed.

A student may declare a major on only one campus; a student cannot declare a cross-campus double major or double degree. A student who wishes to complete two majors on two different campuses must first graduate with a major from one campus, then gain admission as a postbaccalaureate student to complete the second major at the other campus.

When a student declared in a major at one campus is accepted in a major at another campus (note that this requires application for admission to the other campus, as well), the student's campus and major codes are changed to the new major.

Cross-campus second degrees

A student who completes a bachelor's degree at one UW campus, and then pursues a second bachelor's degree at another UW campus as a postbaccalaureate student, must complete at least 225 total credits. Of these credits, at least 45 credits must be completed at the second campus. These 45 credits do not have to be the student's last 45 credits. Of the student's final 60 credits, however, 45 must be completed at the campus awarding the degree.

Minors

A student may complete the requirements of a minor offered by another UW campus. Cross-campus minors are declared via the Change of Major/Minor form, submitted to the student's home campus (not the campus offering the minor). The minor will be recorded on the SRF335 (degree) screen, and will be awarded when the degree is granted.

Students should note that UW-B and UW-T minors, unlike Seattle-campus minors, may have admission requirements. Also, most or all of the courses required by a minor will probably be available only at the campus offering the minor.

Transferring from one UW campus to another

A student enrolled at one UW campus who wants to pursue a degree program at another UW campus must apply to that campus for admission. If admitted, the student's campus and major code are changed. A student cannot be enrolled simultaneously at two UW campuses.

Transfer credit vs. cross-campus credit

A student who attends one UW campus and then is admitted to another UW campus may count toward a bachelor's degree any number of credits transferred from the first UW campus to the second. The 45-credit limit on cross-enrollment (see above) applies only to credits taken at one UW campus while enrolled at another campus.

Residence requirement

Only credits taken at the campus granting the degree are considered residence credit. Credits transferred from another UW campus don't count as residence credit, and don't count toward the residence requirement (see Residence-Credit Requirement).

Counting transferred UW credit toward requirements

Credits transferred from another UW campus may be counted toward requirements in the same manner as transfer credits from another college. That is, any adviser can determine how the transferred credits will count toward AoK and other general education requirements. The adviser should then send this information to the DARS office (dars@u.washington.edu) so that the courses can be properly tagged.

Transfer evaluations

When a student is admitted to one of the UW campuses, the admissions office of that campus prepares an evaluation of any credits transferred from other colleges. Most transfer courses are recorded in the student data base with a UW Seattle equivalent or as departmental X credit, regardless of which campus has evaluated the credit. However, there are minor differences in transfer credit practices at the different campuses. Therefore, matriculating at a new campus results in a reevaluation of the credit by the Admissions Office of that campus.

Returning to the original campus

A student who is enrolled at one UW campus, then transfers to another, then decides to return to the original campus, must file a Returning Student Re-enrollment Application. The student's campus and major code will be changed back to the original campus. If a student earns a degree before returning to the original campus, s/he must instead apply for admission as a postbaccalaureate student.

Academic drop and reinstatement

A student who has been dropped for low grades from one UW campus may apply for admission to another UW campus. If that campus wishes to admit the student, it takes the following steps:

The student is admitted.

The student's campus and major codes are changed.

The student's academic status is changed from drop to probation (i.e., the student is reinstated).